


The Holiday

by LivtheZombae



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hooked Queen, KnightRook, Mad Beauty, Movie AU, The Holiday AU, and a little - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 12:27:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13857783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LivtheZombae/pseuds/LivtheZombae
Summary: A Hooked Queen and Mad Beauty AU of the "The Holiday"





	The Holiday

**Author's Note:**

> edited by the awesome zoeblink19 on tumblr--thank you!!  
> cover made by the amazing heather field and can be found here https://imhookedonthequeen.tumblr.com/post/168307717727/boleyngirl39-heatherfield-belle-french-and#notes
> 
> (btw I don't hate August or Robin but for the purpose of this story, they're gonna come across as jerks)

 

Belle hid the wrapped present in her desk drawer before quietly slipping out of her office to join the holiday party outside, which was already in full swing. Someone had set up a little tree in one corner, and there were lights hanging elegantly about the room, twinkling cheerfully and lending a warm glow to the room. Christmas songs played out over some speakers, occasionally drowned out by the (poor) vocals of co-workers who had overindulged in the punch. Belle barely noticed any of it: her eyes were fixed on the tall, dark-haired man chatting to a group of co-workers.

“You’re not still hung up on him, are you?”

Belle turned to see Ruby at her side. She had drinks in both hands, and a stern eyebrow raised. “N-no,” Belle said. “Of course, not. Silly…”

“Good,” Ruby replied, pushing one drink at Belle, and raising the other two her lips. “I hate the thought of my best friend still being in love with the guy who cheated on her.”

Belle winced at the reminder, curling her fingers tighter around her glass. “Rest assured, Ruby, I’m no longer in love with August.”

Ruby swallowed and exhaled loudly. “You still friends with him?” she asked.

“Yes, we’re still friends,” Belle conceded.

“God, Belle…” Ruby closed her eyes in exasperation, letting out a tense breath. “When your boyfriend cheats on you, you don’t stay friends with him. You yell and throw things and shun him—not become his best friend while he happily moves on with the other woman!’”

“Well, hey, now, give me some credit,” Belle said defensively, “I’m not his best friend. All we do is email…when she’s not around. And you know sometimes we talk on the phone…also when she’s not around. And occasionally we meet up for lunch and we can talk for hours and hours.”

The small smiled that had formed slipped when Belle turned to see Ruby staring at her, unimpressed.

“You do realize how pathetic you sound, right?” Ruby raised an eyebrow, taking another sip of her drink.

Belle’s eyes dropped in defeat, “Yeah, I’m actually painfully aware of it.”

Ruby sighed, wrapping an arm around Belle’s shoulder. “Belle, he was awful to you. You shouldn’t let him get away with it. Otherwise, he’s gonna think that he can come sneaking back into your life whenever he feels like it.”

“Actually, he has hinted at that,” Belle pointed out, twirling the straw in her drink. “I mean he hasn’t said anything out right but still…it’s something.”

“Oh, hon…” Ruby shook her head sympathetically.

“Yeah, I know.” Belle sighed in defeat, before gulping down the rest of her drink. “You know what? I think I forgot to submit my article and it’s getting down to the wire—be right back.”

She pushed her glass into Ruby’s hand and slipped away before she could call her back. No one else noticed as she darted back into her office, dodging her drunkenly swaying coworkers. Once inside, she slid into her wheeled chair, rolled over to her computer, and pulled up her article for another read-through.

Reporting on other people’s engagements and weddings had never been her plan. Especially when she herself was pining after a man who would not love her back.

No…no, when she’d decided to become a reporter, she’d imagined traveling the world, and reporting on all the exhilarating adventures she had. But where was she now? Spending the last days before Christmas writing up another article on another ‘happy couple’, and looking forward to another holiday alone.

Belle released a sigh of disappointment, forcing herself to push her own misery to the back of her mind and instead focus on the task at hand. She double checked her notes; reworded a sentence here, deleted another there…She was too lost in her work to notice that someone else had left the party and was now leaning in her office doorway.

“So, what’s it like being the only one who actually puts effort into their work?”

Belle turned at the sound of the voice to see August smirking at her, lights from the party framing him in a halo of sorts. Her breath hitched at the sight of him. He looked handsome—he always did. An elegant sight in his dress shirt and suit, though he had forgone the tie. He’d always hated wearing a tie.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Belle laughed nervously. “More like, I’m the only one who left her work to the last minute so finishing it up at the Christmas party is her only option.”

“Oh, should I—?” August jabbed his thumb at the door, raising his eyebrows.

“Oh, no, no—I’m nearly finished.” She swiveled back to her computer scene, her fingers a blur as she edited faster than she ever had. Skimming through her final read-through, she hit Save, and submitted it.

“And done!” Belle grinned, spinning around in her chair triumphantly to face August. “It’s probably rubbish, but it’s rubbish that got sent in on time.”

“You’re too hard on yourself,” August told her, moving from the doorway to sit on the edge of her desk. “It’s probably brilliant, just like everything else you write.”

Belle blushed, her grin growing wider. “Well, you’re pretty brilliant yourself.”

August smiled back at her.The two lapsed into a silence that seemed to go forever broken when August cleared his throat and said, “I, uh, actually got you something for Christmas…’

Belle perked up. Well, that’s certainly promising. “Really?” she grinned, “That’s funny ‘cause I actually got you something too.”

She swiveled in her chair and opened one of her desk drawers, pulling out a neatly wrapped present. She turned back towards August, smiling excitedly.

“Wow…um…I don’t actually have your gift with me,” August explained, laughing awkwardly. “I think I misplaced it…probably in my car somewhere…”

Belle’s smile faltered, disappointment swiftly replacing excitement. “Well that’s okay—hopefully you find it,” she replied with her own awkward laugh. She handed him his gift with a “Merry Christmas”, and sat back in her chair, nervously awaiting his reaction.

August ripped the paper away, mouth dropping in surprise at the book that fell into his hands. “A first edition?”

“Do you like it?” Belle asked, chewing her lip.

“I love it!” August met her eyes, smiling widely. “But where did you find it?”

“I actually found it hidden away in that little bookshop we visited last summer,” Belle replied. “Don’t know if you remember it but we ducked into it when it started to rain and ended wandering around there for hours…”

“No, I remember,” August said, “Fairly certain it was the best part of the summer…”

They lapsed into another silence, this one more wistful.

Belle broke the silence this time, desperate not to wander too far down memory lane, lest more unpleasant memories should surface. “Anyway, I went back there a couple weeks ago and I stumbled upon that, thought of you, and I knew it’d be the perfect gift for you,” she explained, “so, of course, I had to get it.”

She smiled, hoping she hadn’t gone too far beyond the boundaries of friendship. That was what they had agreed upon, after all, after he’d ended things. That they would be friends.

“Well, it’s amazing—I still can’t believe it,” August grinned. “What did I do deserve having you in my life?”

Belle blushed, waving away the compliment, but still feeling hope flood through her.  
**************************************************************************************************

They had rejoined the party. Belle had caught Ruby’s eye from across the room and was quick to note the disapproval in her friend’s eye.

Well, she wasn’t there. She didn’t see how happy he was to receive that book…And she didn’t see the way he smiled…at me.

Belle turned her focus to the center of the room, where Mr. Gold was standing in front of the microphone her coworkers had been using for karaoke.

“First of all, I’d like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas,” Gold said, raising his glass to lead his employees in the annual Christmas toast. “Now, soon, you will all be released to go and enjoy your holiday, but I do have one more story to assign…Where is Belle French?”

Belle’s brow creased in confusion, but she raised her hand and rearranged her features into a polite smile. “Here I am!”

“Ah, Ms. French,” Gold said, “An engagement was announced earlier today—one that no other paper in town knows about yet—and I’d like you to be the first to report on it as it involves two of our very own. So, would you all please join me in offering congratulations to Aurora Rosen and August Booth!”

The blood drained from Belle’s face. It felt like all the air had been sucked from her lungs, watching Aurora show off her ring, August’s arm wrapped around her waist. Her coworkers were clapping excitedly for the beaming couple, many raising their glasses and offering enthusiastic “Congratulations!” Belle just felt sick.

“You okay?”

Belle turned to see Ruby beside her, pity on her eyes.

“Fine, I’m just… fine,” Belle lied, swallowing the lump in her throat, eyes stinging with tears that she would not let herself shed.

Ruby wrapped an arm around Belle, pulling her closer in a one-armed hug. “I know how disappointed you must be right now but—“

“I’m really fine,” Belle insisted. “I mean it’s not like he and I were ever going to…get back together or anything…We’re friends and I’m happy for him so—so yeah…”

“You don’t have to pretend to be okay,” Ruby said sympathetically.

Belle bristled at the pity, hating herself for being so pitiful in the first place.

“I’m fine,” she repeated. She forced herself to smile widely as she shrugged off Ruby’s arm. “It’s getting late. I think I’m gonna head home.”

For the second time that night, Belle snuck out of the party unnoticed.  
*************************************************************************************************  
“Just tell me the truth! Did you sleep with her?”

“Regina, this is ridiculous!”

Regina followed her boyfriend down the stairs, trying (and failing) to control her temper. “Why are you avoiding the question, Robin? Did you sleep with her?”

He stopped unexpectedly in the middle of the staircase, causing Regina to collide with him.  
“Where is this even coming from?” he asked in exasperation, spreading his hands. “Why—why—would you think I slept with her?”

“Gee, I don’t know,” Regina shot back witheringly. “Maybe because every time you’ve worked late this past month, she was there? I mean, is it really necessary for the receptionist to stay and work ’til three a.m.?”

She glared at her boyfriend, waiting for him to answer, feeling herself get tenser with every passing second. Robin looked at her helplessly.

“Look, I don’t know what to tell you. She wanted to hang out, all right? I didn’t ask her to stay late— she chose to!”

Regina scoffed and pushed past him, rushing down the stairs get away from him.

“Don’t be such a hypocrite!” he snapped, following her down the stairs and into the foyer.  
“You cut nearly seventy-five trailers last year! You’ve definitely done your fair share of late nights!”

“Yes, and every time I do, I never hear the end of it,” Regina said. “No, when I work late, I get accused of being a workaholic and not caring about our relationship.”

“Regina, I don’t think you’re a workaholic because you work late,” Robin chuckled humorlessly. “I think you’re a workaholic because you have a home cutting room—where you disappear to, the second you get home!”

Regina’s eyes widened furiously. She marched towards the front door and tugged it open, “Get out.”

“Are you serious?” Robin gaped.

“Yep,” Regina snapped. “I’ll send you your things, but right now, I want you out.”

Robin scoffed and walked out the door, shaking his head in disbelief. “You know, I’m not even surprised because this is just classic Regina, isn’t it?”

“What does that even mean?” she asked, bewildered. “What exactly is ‘classic Regina’?”

“This,” Robin said, tossing a hand at her. “We’ve had problems for the past year and rather than make any effort to fix them, you make something up so that you end the relationship because deep down, you don’t want to be in one.”

“That’s—that’s just ridiculous, so…” Regina scoffed, struggling to find a response.

“Is it?” Robin asked. “Because I think you love work so much, that being a couple just became an annoying distraction for you. In fact,” he smirked, “I think you’re relieved—happy, even— that things are ending.”

“What? You—you think I’m happy about this?” Regina sputtered, her temper flaring up again. “That’s ridiculous—how could even? Where—Why would you think I’m happy about this?”

Robin looked at her for a long time. “Regina,” he sighed, “you’re the only woman I know who doesn’t cry when she breaks up with her boyfriend. Of course, I think you’re happy about this…at least on some level.”

Regina stood there in shock. It’s not like there was any way to respond to that.

So, she didn’t cry? So what? He cheated. Why should I cry about a cheater? Right? Right!

“Well,” Regina said with a forced calm, desperate to regain control of the situation. “Tears or no tears, it’s over, oaky? And if you ever really cared for me, you would just be honest so just tell me the truth, Robin: did you sleep with her?”

“No.”

She smiled coldly, and reached for the handle slam the door in his face. “I don’t believe you.”


End file.
